The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-01-05

Will nnd out ms mistake when the gIItter1ng |
treasures slip out Of his nerveless grasp, and
he goes out OF this world without shilling Of
money or a certificate Of stock He might
better have been the Christian porter that
opened his gate or the begrined workman
who last night heaved the coal into his cellar
Bonds and mortgages and leases have their
use, but they make a poor yardstfck with
which to measure life. They that boast them
selves in their wealth, and trust on the multi
tude of their riches none of them can by any
means redeem his brother, nor give to God a
ransom for him, that he should not see cor
ruption. ~Wise men die, likewise the fool
and the british person perish, and leave their
wealth to others
But / remark There are many-I wish
there were more-who estimate their life by
their moral and spiritual development. 1t is
not sinful egotism for Christian man to say:
II am purer than | used to be. | am more
consecrated to Christ than ! used TO be.
have got over great many of the bad habits
in which / used to indulge. / am great
zeal better man than l used to be" There Is
no sinful egotisra in that 1t is not base ego
tism for a soldier to say: II know more about
military tactics than used to before l took
musket in my hand, and learned TO present
arms and when | was pest to the drilling
officer" II is not base egotism for sailor to
say: 81 know how better 70 clew down the
mzzentopsail than / used to before had
ever seen a ship And there is no sinful
egotism when Christian man, fighting the
battles of the Lord, or if you will have it,
yoyaging towards haven of eternal rest,
says: Il know more about spiritual tactics,
and about voyaging towards heaven, than |
used to- Why, there are those in this pres
ence who have measured lances with many a
o. bret
men here, who have become swarthy by
hammering at the forge of calamity. They
stand on an entirely different plane
Of character from that which they once oc-
cupied. They are measuring their life on
earth by golden gated Sabbaths, by pente
costal prayer meetings, by communion tables,
by baptismal fonts, by hallelujahs in the
temple. They have stood on Sinai and heard
it thunder They have stood on Pisgah and
looked over into the Promised Land. They
have stood on Calvary and seen the cross
| bleed. They, can, like Paul the Apostle,
write on their heaviest troubles Eight" and
"but for moment" The darkest night their
soul is irradiated as was the night over
Bethlehem. by the faces of those who have
come to proclaim glory and good cheer.
They are only waiting for the gate TO open,
and the chains to fall off, and the glory to
begin.
Iremarx again: There are maryland wish
there were more-who are estimating life by
the amount Of good they can do John Brad
| ford said he counted that day nothing at
all in which he had not, by pen or
| tongue, done some good. If man
| begin right, cannot tell how many tears he
may wipe away, how many burdens he may
lift, how many orphans he may comfort, how
\ many outcasts he may reclaim. There have
been men who have given their whole life in
| the right direction, concentrating all their
wit and ingenuity, and mental acumen, and
physical force and enthusiasm for Christ
| They clined the mountain, and delved into
the mine and crossed the sea, and trudged
the desert, and dropped at last into martyrs
| graves, waiting for the resurrection of the
just. They measured their lives by the chains
| they broke Off, by the garments they put
| upon nakedness, by the miles they Travelled to
| alleviate every kind of suffering. They felt
| in the thrill of every nerve, in the motion of
| every muscle, in every throb of their heart,
in every respiration of their lungs,
the magnificent truth: mo man iveth
| for himself" They went through
| cold and through heat, foot blistered,
| cheek smitten, back scourged, tempest
lashed to do their whole duty. That is the
way they measured Iife-by the amount of
| EOOu LDey COulu No. ~ JOu Wunt " hHO"
how old Luther was; how old Richard Bax-
ter was; how old Philip Doddridge vast
| Why you cannot calculate the length Of
their lives by any human arithmetic. Add
! to their lives ten thousand times ten thousand
years and you have not expressed it-what
they have lived or will live. o, what a
standard that is to measure a mans life byl
| There are those in this house who think they
lived a thousand-they have lived thousand.
There are those who think they are eighty
/ years of age. They have not even entered
| upon their infancy, for one must become a
babe in Christ to begin at all
Now | do not know what your advantages
| or disadvantages are; do not know what
your tact or talent is; I do not know what
| may be the fascination of your manners or
the responsiveness of them; but / know this:
There is for you, my nearer, a field to culture,
| harvest to reap, tear to wipe away, a soul
to save. If you have worldly means, conse-
crate them to Christ. II you have eloquence,
use it ON the side that Paul and Wilberforce
| used theirs If you have learning put it all
into the poor box of the worlds suffering.
Butt you have none of these-neither wealth,
nor eloquence, nor learning-you at any rate
have a smile with which you can encourage
the disheartened, frown with which you
may blast injustice, a voice with which you
may call the wanderer back to God. "Oh,"
| you say, "that is very sanctimonious view
of lfel" 1t is not 1t is the only bright
view of life, and it is the only bright view of
death. Contrast the death scene of a man
who has measured life by the worldly stand
ard with the death scene of man who
has measured life by the Christian
standard. Quinn, the actor, in his last
moments said: Il hope this tragic scene will
soon be over, and hope to keep my dignity
to the last" Malherbe said in his last mo-
ments to his confessor: Hold your tongue
Your miserable style puts me out of conceit
with heaven" Lord Chesterfield in his last
moments, when he ought to have been pray
| ing for his soul, bothered himself about the
proprieties of the sick room and said: "Give
Dayboles a chair" Godfrey Kneller spent
his last hours on earth in drawing diagram
of his own monument. Compare the silly
and horrible departure of such men with the
seraphic glow on the face of Edward Payson
as he said in his last moments: ~The breezes
Of heaven fan me. float in sea of glory"
Or, with Paul the Apostle, who said in his
last hour: Il am now ready to be offered
up, and the time of my departure is at
hand. 1 have fought the good fight,
have kept the faith. Henceforth, there
which the Lord, the righteous judge, viii
give me- Or compare it with the Christian
/ death bed that you witnessed in your own
household Oh, my friends, this world is a
false godi 1t will consume you with the
blaze in which it accepts your sacrifice, while
the righteous shall be held in everlasting re-
membranes; and when the thrones have
fallen, and the monuments have crumbled,
and the world has persisted, they shall BAN
quet with the conquerors of earth and the
hierarchs of heaven.
This is good day in which to begin new
style of measurement. How old art thoul
You see the Christian way of measuring life
and the worldly way of measuring it
leave it to you TO say which is the wisest and
best way. The wheel of time has turned very
swiftly, and it has hurled US on The old
year has gone. The new year has come For
what you and have been launched upon it,
God only knows.
Now let me ask you all: Have you made
any preparation for the futurel You have
made preparation for time my dear brother
have you made any preparation for eternityf
Do you wonder than when that man on the
Hudson river, in indignation, tore up the
tract which was handed to him, and just one
word landed on his coat sleeve-the rest of
the tract being pitched into the river, that
one word aroused his soul 1t was that one
word, so long, so broad, 50 high, so deep,
eternity A dying woman, in her last mo-
ments, said: Call it backl' They said:
What do you wantf' Time she said.
call it hackln Oh, it cannot be called hacki
We might lose our fortunes and call them
back; we might lose our health and perhaps
recover it; we might lose our good name and
get that back; but time gone is gone for ever.
Some Of you, during the past year, made